I began listening to Hip Hop in 1986 because I thought it was cool how rappers swore. Thinking back on it now, I knew it was the right music for me because I was passionate about its development. While everyone in Junior High loved Vanilla Ice, I copped Brand Nubian, KMD, Gangstarr, and so forth. In my opinion, the best Hip Hop was made between 1989 and 1994. The producer owned these years: Pete Rock, Q-tip (yes, Q-tip), Diamond, Large Professor, Showbiz, The Beatnuts, The BeatMinerz, Premier, etc. Back then rappers weren't afraid to write to a complex and loaded beat; they took the challenge with open arms. Producers weren't constantly looking for the easy and simple way out like they are today.

I couldn't begin this bio nor continue it without stating how important the above figures are to me -especially Mr. Phillips. If someone were to call me a biter and/or poor imitation of their work within the era provided I would most likely respond "mission accomplished". Every time out of the box, I'm trying to ressurect what is now called the "early 90's sound". Somewhere along the line this sound was lost -probably around the time InI and Large Professor were ousted from their major deals. To be honest, I don't know when it all ended. The only one that brought sampling to the next plateau was Dj Shadow on Entroducing. Regardless I decided to take matters into my own hands; if not for someone else's enjoyment, my own.

My first beat I ever made was a tape loop of Sade's Cherish the Day (the beginning riff of the ambient guitar), mid 1995. Two years later Nas came to Providence and rapped over the same beat, almost the exact way I had it looped. All my boys, years before this, told me I should either try djing or producing. For the kids I ran with, white boys couldn't jump and they most certainly didn't rap. In my circle, I had to stick with shooting three pointers and/or making beats. In my heart I was dying to but figured it required much more than it actually did and the dream began to fade. Seeing Nas -the man who recorded my favorite album of all time, Illmatic- rap over an idea I had two years earlier inspired me to give it a go.

I began making beats consistently in early 1998. I started off on a generic wav player for Windows. I would record samples from vinyl to tape and then record them into my dad's computer with a walkman. At the time I was djing at WRIU, 90.3; another dream I was fortunate enough to live out. A month after my wav player days started, I saw the station engineer giving a friend of mine a tutorial on a computer program called SAW Plus 32. I came in half session, not learning much other than there was something in the production room you could do beats on better than a wav player. Luckily for me, my roomate Tone Capone was Urban Director at the time and had a skeleton key to all the doors of the radio station. The deal was simple, I let him and his girlfriend (still to this day) have the room for the night and I could get his keys.

Two doors down from the production room was what is still called "the vinyl room". They had about between 30,000 and 50,000 records split up into 3 separate rooms. The main vinyl room was where all the action was: Jazz. Like everyone else who starts making beats, I was mostly checking for CTI records -little did I know, well...I'll get into it further down. Basically, I would start off in the vinyl room and just cue up records I thought would be cool to sample. Once I had enough of everything for the night: drum breaks, loops, etc. I would start messing around. It was on the sneak tip so I had to allot myself time to put all the records back exactly where I got them so I noone would find out I was in there.

SAW Plus 32 is not a computer program for making beats; it's a multitrack (32 tracks, hence the number 32 in the name). Each track has pitch control like you'd find on a turntable (I have no clue why they would put it in there) and that was enough to teach myself how to mix samples. There is no cheating involved with SAW: there is no time stretch, pitch shift etc. There is no "place sample here" with a cute little pencil for sequencing. There isn't even a metronome; I had to, and still, do everything manually. The only difference between it and a drum machine is it's a visual aid. This particular mode works for me because I'm a visual learner. Although there isn't one beat I make today that I couldn't make solely on a drum machine; of all, I'm best on the SP-1200.

At first, I sucked and people would tell me. They wouldn't say it right out but I could tell by the expression on their faces. They would tell me by not respecting my progress. They would tell me by not wanting to rap on any of those tracks I made. Back then, Sage was the one of the few people that had faith in me. I guess he saw me working hard every day or night, appreciated that, and didn't want to sleep on me. He's the only one who still showed interest in what I was doing and believed in me -even if I wasn't providing immediate results. This was big because Sage was a friend first but quickly became one of my favorite emcees. To me, if I could just start making better beats, I knew he would at least rap on one of them. I think we all know what beat that was, if you don't I'll delve deeper into it further down.

That summer involved meeting the person most vital to my career in production: Moodswing 9. While digging with him, I learned everything: the ethics, breaks, record labels, how to segment, separate, eq, etc, etc, etc. From him, I learned the hard way that I was skipping over: a full run of Strata East, Embryo, Flying Dutchman, and Black Jazz, a slew of dope Radio Canada, tons of MPS, a bunch of quality Muse, Milestone and ABC impulse, etc. sitting in the very vaults I was digging through. He told me I had a good ear and took me under his wing along with a slew of other dope producers: Alias, Controller 7, Dj MF Shalem B, etc. Make no mistake about it Moodswing 9 is the essence of our production. He is our motherfucking PAPPY and we all know it. We are all still guests in his house and go to bed knowing that anytime he wants to come back, we're back to being amatuers again.

A short time later, I made a beat now called Bounce. Francios had dibs on it and that's where things get real hazy. From there anything of significance I did after that was put in Sage's hands except for one track I produced for Doodlebug of Digable Planets. Enter Mig Redzepi: a DJ at 90.3 that gave Sage his start on the air and good friend to us wanted to release records under the name Emerge. He put out our first 12" Drop Bass b/w Bounce distributed by Fat Beats. Sage moves to Brooklyn and I was back in Rhode Island building with another local producer named Aftamath. He taught me how to use the SP and even let me borrow it for quite some time. I would bring it with me on this late night pizza truck I used to work on and practice.

Our second pressing, "All Word, No Play" was also put out on Emerge but was distributed by Landspeed. Around this time, Sage allowed me to use his MPC-2000 when my ex-girlfriend erased all my beats I had stored on her computer. I called up my man J-zone, he gave me some over the phone pointers and I figured the rest out myself -although I'm still better on the E-mu. In the meantime, I wasn't making a lot of tracks but I was digging like a madman, doing some heavy trading with the likes of 7L, Elektro 4, Quo1976, etc. and stashing it all away for one big push. Then my aunt died and I inherited the very computer I type and do beats on now. A short time later Sage came back from San Fran with almost of Personal Journals finished and told me to get cracking on the non-prophets lp. I pulled out all the bangers I saved, worked my ass off and...

Three months later (March 2001) I was ready to roll up to Halifax and lay down most all of the beats for the album to tape. Sixtoo was kind enough to let us record there, we ate like kings, and I had a blast. After that, a whole lot of nothing happened until April 2002, when I began to put together an instrumental Lp called Reverse Discourse. It's a 60 minute, 20 track, uninterrupted mix of what I've been doing musically since people last heard from me. It's not as involved as Entroducing but it's also not as simple as a majority of stuff being released today. It's collage of beats for emcees that I have deemed worthy enough to be released in the proper context and duration. I finished it for the 5th time, some months later, in August.

As of right now I'm confused. After I finished the production on the non-prophets lp, I finally felt my music was worthy (good) enough to be shared. In fact, that's where I am right now: I just want to share the music I've created, test it with the public, and experience the ripple effect it has, if any. I'm curious to see how far the music I've created can take me. Although now the division in Hip Hop is HUGE and continues to grow by the day. I'm not east coast, I'm not west coast. I'm not underground for the trend of it nor am I generic enough to be mainstream. I'm not anticon but I'm not boom bap; I can't even make the inference I'm somehere in the middle. I'm not emo but the music I strive to make has an intellectual edge to it. In the end, I really don't see how or where I fit but I'm still going to give it a shot. I can only hope what I have to offer this world -creatively- will be well received.

Joe.

Thu Oct 31, 2002 9:49 am

Reggie

Joined: 01 Jul 2002
Posts: 5766
Location: Queens, NYC

Fascinating. I'm not being sarcastic.

What about the origin of the Anticon Diss Song?

Thu Oct 31, 2002 10:19 am

amo1ne

Joined: 19 Jul 2002
Posts: 1455
Location: MTL514CANADA

Good Luck. I'm interested to hear what that instrumental lp sounds like.. peace.

Thu Oct 31, 2002 10:26 am

Dee

Joined: 19 Jul 2002
Posts: 7872

The main vinyl room was where all the action was: Jazz. Like everyone else who starts making beats, I was mostly checking for CTI records

Yeah! That stuff is the SHIT. Do you listen to jazz outside of sampling it?

I think I might be one of the few hip hop fans who heard Red Clay before Sucka Nigga.

dude, get the shit pressed and you will have my credit card number faster than sex with a whiskey dick, i'll blow some minds with it over here...

and very interesting, thanx for the insight, tell us more

c

Thu Oct 31, 2002 11:21 am

JOEYBEATSGuest

Smoke

The Anticon Dis Song came about because tons of followers have gotten the wrong idea -as with any movement that gets too big for itself (ala religion, government, or any piece of culture).

I don't like the whole notion of "if you don't do what we do, then you're wack." I also think people need to get in touch with the real reasons why they feel anticon's contributions to music are more artistic and/or valid. It's really no different from the reasons why our country feels its ok to invade all the supposedly "savage", "crazy", "unethical", and "uncivilized" countries of the world.

I'm sorry but that's all you will get out of me on the subject.

Joe.

Thu Oct 31, 2002 12:38 pm

futuristxen

Joined: 01 Jul 2002
Posts: 19377
Location: Tighten Your Bible Belt

Thank you, that was very interesting. I don't think Sage really fits into any of the categories either--so it seems like you guys are the perfect team. CAN NOT WAIT to hear the instruemental and the non-prophets LP.

Thu Oct 31, 2002 1:04 pm

Reggie

Joined: 01 Jul 2002
Posts: 5766
Location: Queens, NYC

Re: Smoke

JOEYBEATS wrote: The Anticon Dis Song came about because tons of followers have gotten the wrong idea -as with any movement that gets too big for itself (ala religion, government, or any piece of culture).

I don't like the whole notion of "if you don't do what we do, then you're wack." I also think people need to get in touch with the real reasons why they feel anticon's contributions to music are more artistic and/or valid. It's really no different from the reasons why our country feels its ok to invade all the supposedly "savage", "crazy", "unethical", and "uncivilized" countries of the world.

I'm sorry but that's all you will get out of me on the subject.

Joe.

Believe me, that was a dearth of information and well more than I expected.

Thanks for the candor.

Thu Oct 31, 2002 1:35 pm

amano

Joined: 04 Jul 2002
Posts: 992
Location: exiled in Cackalack!

good lookin out on sharin that bruh.

I was gonna make a post askin ya how ya got yer start and what made ya wanna get up n start producing. Thank you for answering that question.

I'm lookin forward to the instrumental lp when it comes out.

Thu Oct 31, 2002 1:57 pm

PaigeMaster6

Joined: 01 Jul 2002
Posts: 628
Location: asheville, NC and NYC

nice

i don't know why i feel the need to share my two cents, but that was really interesting. i really look forward to hearing all of what you have created. word joe. you are the man-i just want to touch you, ha. nah, but seriously, dope read. thanks.
paige

Thu Oct 31, 2002 2:42 pm

insprdbysk8n

Joined: 05 Jul 2002
Posts: 98
Location: iowa

what do you mean ethics of digging?

Thu Oct 31, 2002 2:47 pm

Path

Joined: 29 Jun 2002
Posts: 452
Location: Minneapolis

good post joe... you should include that or something similar to it in a booklet in the non prophets lp like sage did with his album..
thatd be pretty cool.

Dan

Thu Oct 31, 2002 4:05 pm

Jump to:

Goto page 1, 2Next
All times are GMT - 6 Hours. The time now is Sun Aug 02, 2015 7:04 pm